Research Grants & Contracts Office

1. Research Grants & Contracts Office Research Seminar Dept of Management Craig Bryce

2. Summary • Research Grants & Contracts Office (RGCO) • Funding Schemes • FEC and Costing (briefly!) • Internal procedures for approving applications • Finding further information

3. Research Grants & Contracts Office structure Peter Westley Director of Finance Liz Francis Head of RGCO Craig Bryce Deputy Head Theresa Ball Costing & Pricing Accountant Sharon Bell Research Accounts Officer George Eyre Research Support Officer Rassi Pelpola Research Accounts Assistant Marion Barthram Research Grants Assistant

4. Research Grants & Contracts Office structure Peter Westley Director of Finance Liz Francis Head of RGCO Theresa Ball Costing & Pricing Accountant Craig Bryce Deputy Head Sharon Bell Research Accounts Officer George Eyre Research Support Officer Applications Rassi Pelpola Research Accounts Assistant Marion Barthram Research Grants Assistant

5. Research Grants & Contracts Office structure Peter Westley Director of Finance Liz Francis Head of RGCO Project Accounting Theresa Ball Costing & Pricing Accountant Craig Bryce Deputy Head Sharon Bell Research Accounts Officer George Eyre Research Support Officer Rassi Pelpola Research Accounts Assistant Marion Barthram Research Grants Assistant

6. Research Grants & Contracts Office structure – Dept of Management • School of Business, Economics & • Informatics • Psychological Sciences • Psychosocial • Social Policy & Education • All EU grants Peter Westley Director of Finance Liz Francis Head of RGCO Theresa Ball Costing & Pricing Accountant Craig Bryce Deputy Head Sharon Bell Research Accounts Officer George Eyre Research Support Officer Rassi Pelpola Research Accounts Assistant Marion Barthram Research Grants Assistant • School of Arts • Biological Sciences • School of SSHP (rest of)

7. Research Grants & Contracts Office (RGCO) • The RGCO, part of Finance Dept, provides administrative, financial and support services related to externally funded research projects • Pre award: funding information, help with applications, approval, contract negotiation • Post award: project accounting, approval of posts, allocation of overheads, financial reporting, contracts with partners • Policy development • Management information • Training and events

8. Help with Applications • Costing - salaries and overhead-type costs – done on web-based costing system pFACT • Approval – done using workflow system on pFACT • Electronic submission – may need to set up an account, e.g Research Council’s Joint Electronic Submission (Je-S) system • Contractual arrangements • Copies of previously successful applications for most schemes

9. Research Funding at Birkbeck • 2009/10 – 209 applications (33%) • Income £10,170,194 in 2009/10 (12.5%) • Jan ‘11 contract value £52,006,414 • 66 different funding bodies • 162 active research projects, throughout all Schools • Management • 2009/10 - 4 applications (75%) • Income 2009/10 – £76k • 5 Active projects, Contract value £268k

10. Research Funding at Birkbeck

11. Funding Information • Economic & Social Research Council • Leverhulme Trust • British Academy • Others…

12. ESRC (1) • Research Grants Scheme • £200k > £2m • Recently changed – no small applications <£200k considered • Up to 5 years duration • Flexible re subject area as long as within ESRC's remit • 80% FEC • No closing dates • Apply via Je-S • 6 sides of A4 for research proposal • Most decisions within 26 weeks

13. ESRC (2) Recent revisions to Funding Schemes, “fewer but more flexible research schemes” • Future Leaders scheme • Will replace postdoctoral fellowship and first grants scheme. • “More information will be available shortly” • Large grants and centres • will be integrating large grants and centre competitions • “more information will be available shortly” http://www.esrc.ac.uk/funding-and-guidance/funding-opportunities/

14. ESRC (3) - Fellowships • Professorial Fellowships • support leading social scientists working in the UK • Fellow given freedom to pursue their own innovative and creative research agendas • Provides; • Fellow’s time (up to 60%) • additional research assistance costs • PhD studentship • Up to 3 years • 80% FEC • Usually announced in October, closing date in December, peer review February to April, interviews are in May and decisions made by end of July. Awards are expected to commence the following October at the earliest. • Knowledge Exchanges/Placement Fellowships • private, public and civil society sectors

15. ESRC (4) • Research Seminars - multi-institutional groups of academic researchers, PG students and non-academic users who meet regularly to exchange information and ideas with the aim of advancing research within their fields • non-fEC and are limited to £15,000 • travel and expenses for speakers and participants • secretarial costs • stationary postage copying and telephone • hire of rooms and facilities.  • Another £3k available if strong case for • enhancing knowledge transfer • impact for non academic users • and/or the inclusion of international academics at events and/or the holding of events abroad. • WILL be running 2011/12 details tba • 2009 – 146/41 – 28%

16. ESRC (5) • Decision process Submission via JeS Checked by Shared Services Centre (SSC), allocated to ESRC Officer for eligibility check Once accepted, proposal sent to reviewers from ESRC’s Peer Review College Proposal scoring below 4 rejected, those above 4 allocated to 2 members of the Grant Assessment Panel PIs given 10 days to respond to Reviewers comments (max 2 A4) Grant Assessment Panel meet and agree prioritisation list, considered by Grants Delivery Group and final decisions made. Feedback sent with decision letters, scores of <4 receive 3or4 anonymous reviewer comments, scores >4 reviewer comments plus comments of 2 panel members.

17. ESRC award rates • ESRC Responsive mode; • 2009/10 – Standard Grants 682/94 – 14% Small Grants 653/124 – 19% • 2010/11 - Standard Grants 304/41 – 13% (to date) Small Grants 178/44 – 25% • Birkbeck responsive mode • Success rate for 09/10: 6/2 (33%) • Success rate for 08/09: 5/2 (40%) • Success rate for 07/08: 8/2 (25%) • Success rate for 06/07: 8/4 (50%)

18. Leverhulme Trust (1) • Research Project • “support for innovative and original research projects of high quality and potential, the choice of theme and the design of the research lying entirely with the applicant” • Up to 5 years; < £500k for research assistance, PhD Students, replacement teaching, other direct costs • Most awards ~250k for 3 years • Any topic • 2 stage application process, outline must be accepted prior to submitting full application (up to 12 weeks) • full appl deadlines Sept, Dec and March

19. Leverhulme Trust (2) • Research Fellowship • open to experienced researchers • up to £45k • research expenses ‘over and above normal living costs’ including reasonable replacement teaching • 3 – 24 months • Next round announced Sept ‘11 • Major Research Fellowship • Open well-established and distinguished researchers • Provides a replacement staff member to cover the period of the Fellowship and £5k p.a. expenses. • 2 –3 years • 4.00pm on 6 May 2011 (result December) • Early Career Fellowship • 2 year award, Trust pays up to 50% of the employment cost (up to max of £23k), plus research expenses up to £6,000 pa, deadline 10 March

20. Leverhulme Trust (3) • Success Rates • Research grants • 2007 – Outline – 43%, Full – 47%, Combined – 20% • 2008 – Outline – 44%, Full – 49%, Combined – 22% • 2009 – Outline – 48%, Full – 39%, Combined – 19% • Research Fellowships • 2007 – 18% • 2008 – 16% • 2009 – 15% • Major Research Fellowships • 2007 – 14% • 2008 – 13% • 2009 – 14% • Early Career Fellowship • 2007 – 13% • 2008 – 12% • 2009 – 13%

21. British Academy (1) • Small Grants • primary research in the humanities and social sciences • up to £7,500 direct costs, up to 2 years • applications assessed equally on their merits, with no preference as to mode of enquiry • for clearly defined, discrete piece of research with an identifiable outcome • FINAL deadline: 23 March • BA Research Development Awards (BARDA) • Up to £150,000 FEC, up to 3 years • scheme is currently suspended • Conference Support and O/S Conference Grants • Final deadlines 16th & 2nd March – scheme scrapped

22. British Academy (2) • Postdoctoral Fellowships • 3 years support for outstanding early career researchers. 2-stage application, deadline: October • applicants are expected to be at an early stage of their academic career. • Provides fellow’s salary plus limited research expenses and FEC costs (directly allocated costs, including mentor’s time, estates, and indirect costs). • ‘New’ British Academy Mid-Career Fellowship Scheme • aim is to free applicants from normal teaching and administrative commitments • support outstanding individual researchers with excellent research proposals, and to support outstanding communicators • awards to individuals employed at UK universities, particularly to support mid-career scholars • normally within no more than 15 years from the award of their doctorate • 6-12 months duration • It is not expected that the total value of an award will exceed £200,000 FEC • Deadline 9 March 2011 • 35 per year

23. British Academy (3) • Full list • British Academy/Leverhulme Trust Senior Research Fellowships and Thank-Offering to Britain Fellowship • British Academy Research Development Award Scheme (BARDAs) • British Academy Wolfson Research Professorships • Conference Support • Country-specific Agreements • International Partnerships • Mid-Career Fellowships • Overseas Conference Grants • Postdoctoral Fellowships • Small Research Grants • Special Funds • UK-Latin America and the Caribbean Link Scheme • Visiting Scholars

24. Europe • Research mainly funded via 7th Framework Programme • Co- operation - Collaborative Research Programme • Collaborative/multi-national requirement • Call driven • Ideas - Frontier Research (European Research Council) • Starting Grants (call opens July ’11) • 1.5m€ over 5 years • PI must have PhD awarded in last 2 - 12 years • PI expected to spend min 50% of time on project (funded) • Advanced grants • 2.5m€ over 5 years • SSH deadline 6 April • No PhD time eligibility but “only exceptional research leaders” • PI with track record of significant research achievements in the last 10 years • PI expected to spend min 30% of time on project (funded) • People - Marie Curie Schemes • 'mobility' requirement

25. Others…. • Over the last 3 years the School has submitted applications to; ACAS, AHRC, BBSRC, British Academy, CIMA, ESRC, EPSRC, EU, Health Research Council of New Zealand, JISC, Leverhulme Trust, National Maritime Museum, Natural England, NESTA, NORFACE, Nuffield Foundation, Royal Academy of Engineering, Royal Society, Technology Strategy Board, OMII-UK, UEFA. • Research Professional - http://www.researchprofessional.com

27. Preparing a good proposal • Guidance notes on constructing a good proposal to the ESRC Research Grants Scheme: http://www.esrc.ac.uk/funding-and-guidance/guidance/applicants/how-to.aspx • Part 1 Allow yourself time Study your funding source Read the rules Discuss your application Justify your costings • Part 2 Content and presentation • Part 3 Dissemination and impact Check the details If you are successful If you are unsuccessful • EPSRC: Preparing a Proposal: http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/funding/apprev/preparing/Pages/default.aspx • NERC: How to win money for research: http://www.nerc.ac.uk/funding/application/howtowin.asp

28. Full Economic Costing (fEC) • Introduced by the Government in 2005 • Used as basis to cost research projects, but very few funders will pay 100% of FEC • Research Councils pay 80% of FEC • Other funders pay according to their own terms and conditions • We use pFACT to calculate the FEC

29. What makes up fEC? • Directly Incurred (DI) costs • Directly Allocated (DA) costs • Indirect costs • Exceptional items: e.g. project studentships Research Councils will pay 80% of DI, DA and Indirect Costs; 100% of Exceptional Items

30. College Approval procedures - pFACT • Set out in the College's Financial Regulations, as approved by Governors • All external research grants must be authorised for submission through the pFACT system. • All approval stages to be completed prior to submitting to the funding body • RGCO – webpage http://www.bbk.ac.uk/rgco/researchgrants/application/authorization.shtml

31. College Approval procedures - pFACT • The application should only be submitted once all the stages have been completed. • Each approver should be given at least three clear working days (that’s NINE days prior to deadline). • Paper applications that require institutional signatures should be passed to the RGCO at the same time that the applicant completes their stage of the pFACT sign-off

32. http://pfact.bbk.ac.uk/login.aspx

34. Contact information Research Grants Office: www.bbk.ac.uk/rgco Craig Bryce: extn 3141 c.bryce@bbk.ac.uk Sharon Bell: extn 3139 s.bell@bbk.ac.uk Financial statements and reports

35. www.bbk.ac.uk/rgco